The political battleground in the digital age - a scandal in Brasil

The political battleground in the digital age - a scandal in Brasil

24 October 2018

Before the run-off election on 28/10/2018 for the presidency in Brazil between the candidate of the Workers Party (PT) Fernando Haddad and the right-wing congressman Jair Bolsonaro, there is a possible election influence by massive paid misinformation in the messaging service WhatsApp.
Gregor Gysi, President of the European Left:
It is utterly unacceptable that there is deliberate electoral interference in the form of disinformation exclusively related to the left candidate, Fernando Haddad, with the aim of discrediting, so I welcome the decision of the Supreme Electoral Court in Brazil to initiate investigations. Such election manipulation by paid marketing companies would, on the one hand, violate the electoral law and, on the other hand, at the same time mean that the marketing companies have registered cell phone numbers in violation of data protection. The fact that social media are used to communicate views and campaigning is one thing, but quite different is the targeted election manipulation. For the European elections in May 2019, therefore, I call for clear rules to prevent election manipulation by social media.